MINUTES
Meeting of the Economics Department
Monday, September 14th, 2015, called to order at 3:30 PM
Present: Ahmad (Chair), Das, Ersal, Guo, Heinrich, Lovett, Marks, Teferra, Tao, Welsch,
Winden, and Xue
1. Approval of August 31st, 2015 meeting minutes:
Welsch moves, Winden seconds. Motion passed unanimously.
2. Announcements:
a. Scholarships: Deadline for scholarships set to November 16th, 2015
(Monday). Welsch was named the Chair of the DoE Scholarship
Committee. Welsch also requested that faculty announce the scholarship
opportunity in all upper level classes. Ahmad also asked for suggestions to
increase the funds under the Hellie scholarship.
b. Syllabi for HLC: Ahmad requested volunteers to send their syllabi for
Econ 201 and Econ 245. This will be used to show the coursework in
these classes during the Higher Learning Commission’s visit in October.
c. Assessment committee to review Econ 201 and Econ 245 questions in
Management 489: Admin Policy course.
d. Ahmad reminded tenured faculty of Personnel review in the October
meeting.
3. Math 152 (Winden)
Winden informed the Department that the COBE Curriculum committee started a
proposal that Math 152 be added as an acceptable pre-requisite for the courses in
COBE. Once approved, syllabi need to reflect this change: Math 152/Math 143
will be considered as acceptable prerequisite for the courses offered in COBE.
4. Assessment (Kashian)
Agenda item pushed back to next meeting.
5. Research Committee (Das)
Das and Tao presented to the department Dean Karim’s request for input into the
Impact of Research Metrics. This is part of the 2013 updated AACSB standards.
The Impact of Research Metrics will be used to compile the COBE research
output for the 2018 AACSB visit. Faculty is requested to send in their inputs in
this matter by 28th of September to Das/Tao.
6. Roles and Responsibilities Documents
Ahmad discussed the need for roles and responsibilities for each of the DoE’s
main committees to be well defined and updated. Ahmad presented roles and
responsibilities for the Assessment Committee. One for the Strategic Planning
Committee will be forthcoming.
Motion to approve the roles and responsibilities of the Assessment Committee:
Winden moved, Welsch seconded.
The motion passed unanimously
Ahmad also asked the assessment committee to begin defining the learning goals
for minors in the program.
7. Review of 2015-2016 Strategic Goals
Strategic Goals for 2015-16 were briefly reviewed:
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One aspect of this includes the SPC to examine course offerings and align
them with what faculty wants to teach and what their expertise is in.
Ahmad asked the Assessment Committee to look at incentives for high
value research, especially for undergraduate research
Xue was asked to investigate forming closer ties with OESH.
The DoE also needs to define the impact of research within the department
and align it with the COBE standards.
Ahmad asked Ersal and Winden to look into the impact of Inclusive
Excellence.
Kashian and Marks responsible for acquiring retention data with the help
from institutional research and the department ADA, Raquel Huppert.
They are also to look at the grading patterns in the data from 2013.
Ahmad asked the DoE Strategic Planning committee to think about the goals for
2016-2017 by January. They should revisit the mission statement and propose
where the department should be in the next 5 years, especially for the 2020 SelfStudy report. An action plan will be formulated after the Annual Advisory Board
meeting.
8. DoE Self Study
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Ahmad reminded the faculty of the October 1st deadline for the department
to submit the Self-Study report to Dean Chenoweth. Ahmad also asked for
volunteers to check for the report for any inconsistencies, and the extent to
which the 2010-11 concerns raised have been addressed.
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Ahmad asked faculty to fill out the template that was sent with no more
than four items per person. These include research, external funding, gifts,
grants and professional activities.
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With respect to resources for students:
Faculty expressed the need for advising resources and suggested that one
faculty be assigned the responsibility of advising, getting an incentive
equivalent to a course release for the role.
Faculty also requested for more graduate student support, especially with
more RAs.
Faculty further requested that there be more computer support with
appropriate software programs
Also, a significant increase in undergraduate research assistance was asked
for.
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Further, the department asked for additional secretarial help. Faculty
expressed concern about the lack of economic journal subscriptions in the
library. Also, the restriction on travel money for attending (and not
presenting) at conferences does not allow faculty to just attend
workshops/conferences.
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SWOT Analysis:
Ahmad asked the department to reflect on the department’s main strengths
with respect to the major and also to consider areas that require
improvement.
Marks commented on the lack of concept retention. Winden proposed
putting online modules for Econ 201 and 202 so that upper level classmen
can use them as refresher courses.
Need for URM and female students in the program, was noted.
Recruitment through high school visits suggested. Economics society will
be asked to assist in recruitment process. Further, recruitment efforts to get
more female students by female faculty should be looked into.
9. Sabbatical Proposals
Tao’s 2016-17 sabbatical proposal approved unanimously on a Heinrich/ Welsch
motion
10. New Business
Welsch inquired of whether a new faculty line would be added in Fall 2016,
Ahmad informed that the call for faculty hiring had not gone out due to current
budget situation. Hence, it was unlikely that there would be a new faculty line that
could be added for the next year.
11. Old Business
N/A
12. Meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm on a Winden/Welsch motion.
Respectfully submitted,
Shreyasee Das (Shreya)
Secretary Pro Tem